Dataharvest 2026 - the European Investigative Journalism Conference

Apolena Rychlíková is an award-winning Czech journalist, documentary filmmaker, author, co-founder and co-editor-in-chief of Page Not Found. She was the first Czech journalist ever to be nominated for the European Press Prize.
Her work focuses on political power, social inequality, minorities, people pushed to the margins of society, sexualised violence, gender-based violence and the ways digital technologies shape new forms of abuse, exploitation and violence against women. Together with journalist Jakub Zelenka, she uncovered what became the largest sexual abuse scandal in modern Czech politics, leading to the imprisonment of a prominent politician who was found guilty of rape. Their reporting helped launch a Czech MeToo reckoning and contributed to changes in Czech legislation on rape.
In recent years, she has focused on the links between technology, online misogyny and digital violence against women, including in-depth investigations into closed and semi-closed online spaces such as Discord and Telegram, as well as investigations exposing scams, coercion and exploitative practices connected to OnlyFans agencies.
She lectures at FAMU, the Film and TV School of the Academy of Performing Arts in Prague, one of Europe’s leading film schools. She is also a co-founder of Women in Media, a platform supporting Czech women journalists and promoting safer, more equal and more inclusive conditions in the Czech media industry.
Across journalism, documentary film, podcasts and books, her work combines investigative reporting with a strong social and political perspective. Her work has had far-reaching impact on public debate, media accountability and lawmaking in the Czech Republic.